


(More) Changes

by TheGriefPolice



Series: The Umbrella Academy, but smoler [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy
Genre: AU, Age Play, Alternate Universe, Angst, Author has no life, Caregiver!Klaus, Classifications, Dom!Luther, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Little!Vanya, Littles Are Known, Non-Sexual Age Play, Vanya-centric, Yikes, alternate universe - classifications, alternate universe - littles are known, baseline!allison, dom!Diego, hargreeves’ A+ parenting, hidden Classification, little!five, vanya deserved better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:27:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25787338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGriefPolice/pseuds/TheGriefPolice
Summary: Finally off the medications that make her numb, Vanya starts to find herself as she spends more time with her siblings. For the first time ever, she had a relationship with her family and she adored every moment. But, whilst cleaning out their father’s office, Vanya discovers something that just... couldn’t be true. Right by her name, her Classification was written as “Little.”But Vanya was a Baseline... wasn’t she?(Set after season one, no time travel.)
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Five Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Luther Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves
Series: The Umbrella Academy, but smoler [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1873702
Comments: 36
Kudos: 252





	(More) Changes

**Author's Note:**

> What up, my dudes. I see a lot of NSAP with TUA, but it’s always about Klaus, Diego, it Five. Vanya has so much potential!!! (And is also my fav) So I wrote this! Let me know what you think!

Vanya... A Little???

“There’s no way.”

“How could we not know?” Allison turned around. “Why didn’t she tell us?”

“Not to be ‘that guy,’” Klaus said as he sat up on the couch with his head propped up on his hand, “but I wouldn’t tell us either if I was treated like you all treat her.”

“What do you mean ‘how we treat her?’ We treat her just the same as everyone else.”

“Says the guy who tried to lock her in a room.” Diego mocked.

“Hey, you were in on that, too. Don’t you pretend you’re better—“

“Shut up!” Five yelled. “Just shut up, for fuck’s sake. This isn’t important. We need to find Vanya.”

“How are we supposed to find someone who doesn’t want to be found?” Allison asked.

“It can’t be that hard, right? Vanya always sucked at hide-and-seek as a kid.” Luther pointed out with a huff.

“When she was seven,” Klaus said sarcastically.

“Where the hell would she be, then?” Diego asked, hands thrown in the air in frustration.

Five got a contemplative look on his face before looking up. “I think I know.”

-.-.-.-

(Four weeks before, three weeks post-almost-apocalypse.)

Vanya sighed as she walked up to the academy. She hadn’t been back since everything went down, but Five had reached out and asked for her to come by for dinner. Vanya almost said no, but the fact of the matter was that she was lonely. More so than she ever though she could be. 

She was off the meds she’d been on for years and on some new ones that hadn’t been sitting in her stomach very well. She felt sick and with all the nightmares keeping her from sleep, she was tired to the bone. The idea of just something familiar sounded so nice. So she sucked up her pride, put on some clothes, and made her way to the front doors of her former home.

She stood there for a minute, wondering if she should knock or just walk in before the door opened to a familiar face.

“Pogo?” Vanya smiled.

“Good afternoon, Miss.” Pogo said as he pulled the door open wider for her to walk through. “Number Five told me to expect you.”

Vanya smiled a thanks and walked into the foyer, taking in a deep breath of the familiar smell of wood polish and floor cleaner. 

“Vanya!” Five said as he ran into the room, almost plowing into her with a hug.

Vanya’s face lit up, knowing Five’s Little headspace was on full display. He wasn’t ever very good at disguising it, especially around Vanya.

Vanya hugged him tightly and kissed the top of his head. They were about the same height, but with his head tucked into her shoulder, she could still reach the top.

Five pulled away, jumping on the balls of his feet. “We’re gonna play now, okay?” 

Vanya’s smile grew as she nodded her head. Five grabbed her hand and pulled her up the stairs and towards his room. Vanya loved playing with Little Five, even when they were younger. The other five didn’t take kind to Littles, except for Klaus who was a Caregiver but forbidden from helping Five. Luther and Diego were both Dominates, Allison and Ben had been Baselines. Vanya was baseline, too, but that never stopped her from playing with Five. 

She sat with Five as he pulled out several of his old toys, things she suspected he hadn’t played with since he was zapped into the future. She wondered for a brief moment if Five had been Little at all during his time there. When Five handed her a toy truck, Vanya pushed the thoughts aside to help him pull out the rug that looked like a street map. 

Whilst this hadn’t been her expectation for coming here, she found she loved it. It was almost as if the past ten years had never happened. 

A knock on the door broke Vanya out of a haze she’d fallen into whilst playing, shaking her head to get back in focus. 

“Vanya?” Klaus asked from the doorway, his head the only thing sticking through the entrance. 

Vanya’s heart almost sank. What if he didn’t want her here and was gonna yell at her to go? What was she gonna do? She didn’t like being yelled at and she wanted to play with Five.

“I didn’t know you were gonna be here,” Klaus smiled as he walked in, closing the door behind him and sitting on edge of Five’s bed. “It’s good to see you.”

Vanya’s anxiety stayed where it was, but the panic lowered a small amount. “You look better.”

Klaus nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been trying to get better. I’m not where I wanna be, but I’m closer than I was.”

Vanya smiled. Klaus’s skin had more pink it it, his hair had a healthy glow, even his eyes seemed a bit more alive. She wondered for a moment just how long it had been since he’d last been sober. How long had it been since she could see his eyes with a slight twinkle to them? She thought about it and realized she wasn’t sure. He had started drinking when he was fourteen or fifteen, but even before then. It had been a long time.

“What’re you all playing?” Klaus asked, pulling Vanya out of her thoughts. 

“Oh, Five just asked me to play cars with him.” Vanya answered, Five looking up and nodded as she spoke. He held up one of his cars, a cobalt blue ‘67 Ford Mustang—his favorite.

“Awe, y’all are so cute.” Klaus cooed.

Vanya looked down at the car she had in her hand and quickly put it on the carpet. “Yeah, we were just hanging. Uh, what’re you up to?”

Klaus shrugged. “Pogo had said Five was Little and I wanted to make sure he was okay. Didn’t mention you were here or I wouldn’t have worried.”

Vanya moved to stand up, bruising invisible dirt off her pants. “I can take off if I’m in the way. I didn’t know you were watching him, I’m sorry.”

“Hey, hey, no need to rush off. And you’re not in the way. I was just checking in.” Klaus said, watching as Vanya slowly sat back down where she was. “Anyway, I was getting hungry and wanted to see if you all wanted pizza.”

“Yes!” Five all but screamed, making Vanya flinch at the sound.

“That’s one affirmative. What about you? Pizza?” Klaus asked Vanya.

Vanya gave a small nod. “Yeah, sounds good.”

Klaus got up and left the room with a smile and started yelling to see if anyone else wanted pizza. Vanya laughed as she heard Diego’s feet pounding down the hall to catch up and give his order.

“Guess not much has really changed, huh?” Vanya chuckled and turned back to Five, picking her car back up to resume their game.

It was some time (and a blanket fort) later, that Klaus walked in to find Vanya and Five sitting side by side on the floor with a crayon box between them as they shared a coloring book. Klaus could almost feel a lightbulb go off in his head, but it didn’t make any sense. Vanya was a Baseline. Always had been. How could that possibly change now? She must have just been playing along to please Five. Wouldn’t be the first time.

Klaus brushed it off as he sat the pizza box down in front of the two and talked to them for a while. 

After that day, it became a fairly regular thing for Vanya to stop by whenever Five was Little. They’d play a lot, sometimes in Five’s room, sometimes around the academy. Sometimes Luther or Diego would join in, chasing after them playfully. Vanya always had a smile on her face, a new feeling. It was almost like she had her family back. 

But that couldn’t last forever. Not for Vanya. Never for Vanya.

They’d all been going through some of dad’s things, cleaning up the place a bit. His will was still being settled, but they all knew the house was split between them. That meant it was finally time to light all of his shit on fire like they’d always wanted to. Vanya had been tasked with the desk, working alongside her siblings for the first time in what must have been years. She had missed this so much.

It was a small stack of notebooks, each numbered one through seven. She pulled out the first one and flipped it open, finding a brief summery of Luther and his training. It was a lot like the notebook that had almost ended the world, but individualized. 

“Hey, guys, check this out,” Vanya said, holding up Luther’s book. “Looks like we each have a special version of dad’s bullshit.”

The five of them walked over and Vanya held out each of their books. 

“Ah, look at that. Page one and he’s already calling me names.” Klaus said, closing the book and flipping it towards the burn pile. “I’m sure there’s nothing in there I don’t already know.”

“Looks like it,” Allison said, closing her own book and tossing it as well. 

Luther huffed at whatever he was reading before tossing it aside and returning to his work in the closet. 

Klaus turned around, saying, “Ben wants to know what his says.” 

“Go over there and open it for him.” Luther said with a huff.

Vanya could see Klaus open his mouth to respond, but she cut him off. “Here, I’ll open it for him.”

It only took a minute and a half from the moment Vanya opened the book for Klaus to say, “Ben says to just burn it with the others.”

Could have seen that one coming from a million miles away, Vanya huffed to herself. She tossed the notebook on the ever-growing stack. She looked over to see Five face-deep in his own book.

“What’s is say?” Vanya asked.

Five made an angry face and slapped the book shut. “Nothing I didn’t already know,” he said as he threw the notebook with more force than strictly necessary towards the pile.

A flicker of interest went through Vanya, wondering why five would react so violently, but she pushed it away. Reading that book would have been highly invasive. Vanya looked back over her shoulder at the last book on the shelf. Of course it was. Vanya was always last when it came to her siblings. She was always less. Even now, as things were starting to heal. She was still the screw up. The betrayer.

Vanya snatched her book and shoved it into her backpack, going back to helping clean everything up.

Later that night as Vanya entered her own apartment, she threw her backpack on the table. A few of the contents flew out, including the notebook. She had almost forgotten about it. She slumped down into one of the chairs and spun the notebook around to read the cover. 

There was nothing special about the book. Then again, there was nothing special about her. She sighed and sat up, leaning over the notebook as she flipped it open to the first page. Under a baby photo was “Number 7” written in dad’s flawless script. She was starting to loath the man’s handwriting, to be honest. It never seemed to accompany good news.

She read down several lines that contained her birth weight, the day and time, and other useless facts she cared nothing about. She brushed past the Classification line to read on until her mind caught up with her eyes and she snapped them back.

“Classification: Little” 

Vanya read over it several times, going as far as to flip to the cover and make sure she hadn’t mistakenly grabbed Five’s. But her name stayed the same, the Classification line burning into her eyes.

It just wasn’t possible. She would have known by now. Littles weren’t exactly good at hiding themselves, even if they tried their hardest. She’d always been a Neutral, she been raised Neutral, she been treated as a Neutral, everyone knew she was a Neutral! So why did the line make so much sense in her own head?!? 

She couldn’t think of any times that she would have shown as a Little. She never had any of the typical characteristics! Well, she did have a bit of an oral fixation, but honestly, who didn’t? Well, Luther and Allison didn’t. And neither did Diego. Klaus may have one, but it seemed unlikely. Five, however, Five couldn’t stop putting things in his mouth. Even when he was Big. But Vanya wasn’t that bad about it.

She glanced over at a bowl of pens she had sitting on the mantel of an unused fire place. It was full of pens she’d chewed the caps off and didn’t feel right returning to the orchestra. She’d bought a new pack and dumped them in the cup without anyone noticing. But that was hardly a strictly-little behavior.

She’d never regressed once in her life. That’d be impossible for a Little to do. It’d destroy their mind. Depression, anxiety, suicide attempts, mental breakdowns. Okay, so, yeah, she’d had some trouble with that stuff, but she’d never once felt Little. Unless she was playing with Five cause he made really fun games...

But no, it’s just not possible. There would have been more signs. Vanya shook her head, as if trying to physically dislodge the thought from her head before she stood up and readied herself for bed.

-.-.-.-

“Something on your mind?” Five asked, plopping down next to her on a bench at the top of the main staircase.

Vanya jumped, looking at Five angrily before crossing her arms and signing. “No.”

“You’ve always been a terrible lier.” Five pointed out.

“I have not!” Vanya said defensively.

Five raised an eyebrow, looking at her with the “oh, really” face he always had when Vanya said something she knew wasn’t true.

Vanya sighed as she broke eye contact, knowing Five was right. “Just something about that notebook dad had about me in his office... it doesn’t make sense.”

Five sat back, pulling his legs up to his chest. “Yeah, well, most of what’s in there is bullshit if it was anything like mine.”

Vanya shrugged and they sat in silence for a moment.

“Vanya, none of that stuff matters. What matters is the here and now, okay?” Five said, ducking his head to catch Vanya’s downcast eyes.

Vanya nodded, giving Five a small and forced smile. 

A minute or two passed in silence before Five pursed his lips and said, “Bet I can beat you to the kitchen.”

“Loser scoops the ice cream,” Vanya yelled as she bolted down the stairs, Five hot on her heels. 

Things were relatively normal from there. They had piled all of the papers from the office into a pile outside and Klaus poured a bottle of vodka over it, throwing the bottle and stepping back as Five lit a match. In a big ~womph~, everything was set ablaze. It was hot, even from the several yard away that the family stood from the pit, but the satisfaction of watching it burn had them all holding their ground. They stood for a moment longer before turning their backs and walking back into the house.

“Pick your poison,” Klaus said as he walked over to the liquor cabinet, yanking both doors open.

“I thought you stopped drinking,” Vanya said, concerned.

“Oh, I have.” Klaus responded. “That doesn’t mean I cant pour it all over his bed.”

Vanya chuckled, taking a seat at the bar.

They sat around for a while, chatting about life, making jokes, enjoying time with each other. Vanya felt comfortable and safe for the first time in... well... a long time. Maybe ever. So when she started to feel her head go foggy, she didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t scary or strange, it was just there and Vanya decided there wasn’t anything worth caring about. 

And then the fog was encasing her, leaving her unable to think or escape. Her brain felt muddled and confused, unable to keep a thought for more than a few moments. She stood from her chair, earning a few curious glances from her siblings as she stumbled a bit. 

“Vanya?” Allison asked, suddenly on her feet and walking toward her sister.

Vanya shook her head, holding out a hand to tell Allison to stay away. What was happening with her? Was she going to explode again? Was this the real end of the world? She had to get away, keep herself from hurting her siblings. She looked around, trying to find the fastest way out when Klaus spoke up.

“Hey, what’s going on, V? Are you okay?” He asked.

Vanya just shook her head, then reached for the front door. As soon as it was open, she was darting down the street as fast as her feet would take her, trying her best to control any stray emotion that may cause the end of the world. Something wasn’t right and if she couldn’t figure out what... Vanya didn’t want to think about the consequences. 

-.-.-.-

Five jumped from his seat, moving to chase after Vanya only to be stopped by Luther’s large hand. Five stared at the offending hand, then shot daggers at Luther as he said, “Let me go!”

Klaus stepped in, pulling Luther’s hand away as he said, “Leave him be. Five, what’s going on?”

Five looked up at Klaus, unable to hide the fear he was feeling. “I’m not sure.”

“Bullshit,” Diego deadpanned. “You know exactly what’s going on.”

Five gave a heavy sigh, pushing Klaus’s hands away and straightening his jacket. “I can be sure, but...” 

“What is it?” Allison asked, encouraging him to go on as Klaus plopped down on the couch.

Five’s hands dropped from his jacket as he looked up and said, “I think Vanya’s a Little, and I think she’s Dropping.”

“There’s no way.” Luther said, shaking his head.

“How could we not know?” Allison turned around, hand on her hip in thought. “Why didn’t she tell us?”

“Not to be ‘that guy,’” Klaus said as he sat up on the couch with his head propped up on his hand, “but I wouldn’t tell us either if I was treated like you all treat her.”

“What do you mean ‘how we treat her?’ We treat her just the same as everyone else.” Luther said defensively.

“Says the guy who tried to lock her in a room.” Diego mocked.

“Hey, you were in on that, too. Don’t you pretend you’re better—“

“Shut up!” Five yelled. “Just shut up, for fuck’s sake. This isn’t important. We need to find Vanya.”

“How are we supposed to find someone who doesn’t want to be found?” Allison asked.

“It can’t be that hard, right? Vanya always sucked at hide-and-seek as a kid.” Luther pointed out with a huff.

“When she was seven,” Klaus said sarcastically.

“Where the hell would she be, then?” Diego asked, hands thrown in the air in frustration.

Five got a contemplative look on his face before looking up. “I think I know.”

-.-.-.-

The park wasn’t exactly the most original place to hide, but it was the closest thing she could think of. She had just managed to duck under some trees and into the bushes when she felt her mind fall into murky water, struggling to grip onto anything for longer than a moment. She was terrified, there was no explanation for what was going on, she didn’t even feel like herself. Tears started pouring down her cheeks as she tucked her head into her arms and tried her best not to cry out loud. 

Something was wrong and if Vanya couldn’t figure out what, she was going to end up hurting people again. She was so sick of hurting people, she was sick of being left out, sick of being the weird one stuck in a corner and out of the way. She wanted to connect with her siblings more than anything else, but every turn seemed to bring up a new reason they should just ditch her forever. God, no wonder no one ever wanted to play with her as a kid. She was just an emotionally unstable freak. Maybe if she had stayed on those pills, she’d still be sitting in the drawing room back at the academy, enjoying banter with her brothers and sister. Instead she had to go and fuck everything up. Why couldn’t she just be normal! 

Her breaths were coming in large gasps that didn’t seem to be brining in any air. Her fingertips and toes were starting to tingle when she heard someone shout her name. Vanya looked up from her spot to see familiar shoes running her direction. Her breath got caught in her throat, forcing her into silence as the shoes got closer then stopped. A blink later and Five’s worried face was upside down, peering under the bush.

“Vanya!” He said with a relieved smile.

Vanya didn’t understand. Why were they here? She was going to hurt them! They needed to leave! 

“Go ‘way!” Vanya shouted, or tried to, but her voice came out scratchy and quiet.

Five’s face fell to worry as he said, “Vanya, it’s okay. We’re not gonna hurt you.”

Vanya shook her head, burying her eyes back into her arms as she said, “But I can hurt you!” Sobs broke her words apart until she almost didn’t know what she was saying, but she didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t control her emotions and was going to be the reason the world ended!

“Do you want to hurt me?” Five asked.

Vanya’s head shot up as she screamed, “No!”

“Then I don’t think you will.” Five said gently, kneeling down and holding out a hand. “Please come out. I know you’re scared and don’t understand what’s going on, but I think we can help.”

Vanya looked at the proffered hand, too scared to reach out even though every part of her was screaming to. 

“Come on,” Five said, wiggling his fingers until Vanya caved and took his hand. “Good girl.”

Vanya blushed as she crawled out from under the bushes, surprised to find her family on the other side. She looked at them questioningly.

“We were worried,” Allison said, as if that was all the explanation needed.

“Vanya, you need to calm down or your drop is going to really hurt,” Five said, squeezing her hand. 

Vanya turned to her brother, trying to slow her breathing as she asked, “What’s happening to me?”

Five looked at Vanya with a pained expression as he asked, “Vanya, you’re a Little, aren’t you?”

A new wave of tears poured down Vanya’s face as she said, “I didn’t—didn’t think so, b—but that book from dad’s office—“

“He lied to you?” Allison asked, seeming more offended than Vanya was. “He told you that you were Baseline when you’re not?!? Why would he do that!”

“Emotional control,” Klaus said solemnly. “Little’s are emotional rollercoasters and Vanya’s powers are directly attached to her powers.” Klaus’s mouth moved like he wanted to say more, but it hurt too much to think about.

“I want to say I can’t believe it, but...” Allison shook her head.

“We need to get home,” Five said, looking over at Vanya. “Dropping out here won’t help anything.”

Vanya wasn’t sure what Five meant, but she didn’t care. Going home sounded really nice right now. Before Vanya knew what was happening, Klaus had her on his hip and was walking back towards the academy. Maybe Vanya should have yelled to be let go, maybe she should kick and scream and run off in the other direction, but she couldn’t bring herself to. Vanya was tired and didn’t want to walk, and Klaus was warm, even in just his vest. 

-.-.-.-

“Looks like she’s out.” Klaus said as he flopped onto the couch a while later, throwing his legs over the arms and leaning back on Diego.

Five gave a curt nod, still sitting on one of the bar stoles in thought. The family sat in silence for a long moment before Allison spoke up.

“I want to say I can’t believe dad would do this, but...” she shook her head.

“This is exactly something dad would do.” Luther said, pounding his fist on the arm of the chair he sat in. “He lied to her about her powers and her Classification, kept her drugged so she couldn’t feel anything, isolated her from the family... all because he was afraid of her!”

Five looked at Luther with a leveling look and Luther went on. “Look, I know I’m not really one to talk, okay, I fucked up. But I made a mistake and now I see just how big of a fuck up it was. How do we even begin to fix this?”

“Start treating her like a person,” Klaus said, crossing his arms. “Be a new experience for you, wouldn’t it?”

Luther stood, ready to fight as Five shouted, “Enough! Fighting isn’t gonna fix this. Look, we’ve all got a shot to make this right. If we do it right... we may be able to help Vanya.”

“So, what do we do?” Diego asked. 

“Care about her. Love her. Be there for her.” Five said. “Everything you’ve done for me when I’m dropped.”

The room nodded collectively, sharing looks of shame and hope.

“Let’s get some sleep,” Luther said, holding out a hand to help Klaus stand. “We’ve got a long day of reconciliation ahead of us.”

Klaus nodded and took the proffered hand.

**Author's Note:**

> So, what’re y’all thinking? Any interest in a series??? 
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated, but never expected!!


End file.
